A Master of Alchemy in Metro City
by Max Evelyn
Summary: Megamind's homecoming isn't how he planed it, a hero joins the Syndicate and old enemies become allies in a new fight, and Hal it's time to go down with style. AU, with a crossover idea with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
1. Chapter 1: Realization

**Title:** A Master of Alchemy in Metro City

**Author:** Max Evelyn (Fearcat on Livejournal)

**Beta's:** Joanhello (member from the megamind_movie Community on Livejournal)  
><strong>Summary: <strong>Megamind's homecoming isn't how he planed it, enemies become allies a new war, a hero joins the Syndicate, and Mother's mad.

**Author'sNote:** this is a crossover idea with Megamind and Fullmetal Alchemist (sorry to any FMA fans hoping to see Ed but he's not in this), once again I'm working with Joanhello, who helped a lot with my last fanfic.

~ M ~ M ~ M ~

A shining light broke out of the darkness. When it had filled the room, a giant doorway could be seen, fully opened. Out of this light came a single figure. The blinding white light shined around the room, hiding the identity of the figure. Then the doorway began to close and the room was once more engulfed in darkness as the doors made a sound of grinding metal.

Once the figure was along he blinked a few times and took in his surrounds. His eyes widened and he blinked more. Taking a few steps forward, he rushed up to a machine in the centre of the room, placed his left hand on the metal and sighed lightly. He was in the lower level of the Lair, his home.

He spun around wildly, smiling. He was home! The Gate of Truth had returned him home after all this time. The sudden recollection of the Gate of Truth made him looked down at himself and realize he was still disguised. He noticed the true Philosopher's Stone glowing blue around his wrist. The Gate of Truth had given him that as a reminder not to try something like this again.

As he left the lower level of the Lair and came up into the main part, he saw the giant robotic battle suit standing intact. He looked at it, confused. He has used that to fight Tighten; the crazed super had destroyed it and nearly killed him. He closed his eyes and thanked the Gate of Truth; it had sent him back hours before his friends were murdered. Perhaps Hal was still playing video games in that little dump of an apartment with no blood on his hands at all.

He turned and saw some of the brainbots flying toward him happily.

"Hey, hey, did you miss daddy?" His smiled widened into a grin. "Daddy's missed you all."

Suddenly his blood ran cold as he heard a shout that made his head lift and turn sharply.

"COME OUT, ROXIE."

He heard the shouting voice again, this time closer. "OH, LOOK! A TALKING FISH!" He knew the owner of that voice; his eyes narrowed with pure hatred. He rushed off in the direction of the voice, moving lightly, not making a sound.

Just before the corner, he stopped, then slowly came around, staying hidden in the shadows. He stopped dead as he saw Metro Man, dressed only in his white bathrobe and the lower part of the white Metro Man costume, lying on the ground with Roxanne at his side asking if he was okay. Not far away from them was Minion in his gorilla suit. Then he noticed that the gorilla suit's right arm had been torn off and the legs seemed damaged. Things were happening differently. A thought suddenly popped into his mind: he had changed timeline.

"I'll kill the fishy first," Hal called out in a singsong tone.

Megamind cracked his knuckles. _I don't think so_, he spat within his mind. Then he moved gradually forward and spoke in a older voice.

"Some may call it curse..." The other four in the Lair all turned at the voice from out of the shadows. "...a life like mine, but others, a blessing." He stopped and simply stood half visible in the shadows. Hal spun around, then spotted the dark figure. "Who's that?"

The disguised alien let a short, insane-sounding laugh escape his lips. He then fell silent, but the grin never left his face. He had a lot of new moves that he could try out on this fool. He decided to have a bit of fun with Hal first. He continued towards him, the long coat flapping wildly as he walked.

Pointing a finger, the red-haired super called out nervously, "Hey, hey, whoever you are, I'm telling you to stop? Like right now."

As the figure stepped into the light, his grin widened even more. He appeared human and had dark hair and lightly tanned skin. "Well, hello, Hal, it's been a long time."

"I've never seen you before," Hal shot back.

"Oh, I think you have seen me, just not looking like this." He stepped a little closer. "I'm going to take my time, having fun with you." He stalked to Hal's right.

Clearly confused at how this man knew his name, Hal stepped away from the three on the ground and over to the new man. "How do you know me?"

Waving his left hand in the air, the tanned man spoke. "I'm something of a fan of yours," he said.

"A fan of mine," said the shocked Hal. "Really? Wow. I've been doing this training for a few weeks and I've already got a fan."

Roxanne hissed at the tanned man, "How can you be a fan of this sick psycho? He's been trying to kill us."

Hal look at her. "Shut up, Roxie."

"That's ROXANNE!"

The tanned man grinned lustily at her anger; he said out loud "Oh, I love it when you get mad."

She didn't know why but her face became heated and she had to look away. Was this man was flirting with her?

Hal groaned loudly. "This is worse than when I saw her at the restaurant with that nerd."

Roxanne looked at Hal, furious. She knew he had been at the window. He had seen her with Bernard - no it had been Megamind. "It's none of your business who I see."

The tanned man grinned. "Oh, really."

"Once I've finished here, Roxie, I'll go find him and -"

The tanned man stood still. "What if I were to tell you that you've found him?" He raised a eyebrow. "You killed some of my closest friends."

"Whoa, hold it right there, pal. I haven't killed anyone."

The newcomer spat "I'm not your pal." Then he reached for his silver pocket watch on the long chain, looked down as he held it in his left hand, then slowly lifted his head again, eyes fixed on the man in front of him. "And I'm never going to let you have the chance."

He opened the watch. There was a flash of blue and the disguise around him deactivated. "Because, Hal, I'm your worse nightmare." There in front of them was Megamind, using all his willpower to not run at Hal right then.

The first thing they noticed about Megamind was that he wasn't dressed in his normal skin-tight leathers or spikes. Instead he wore a dark green coat over what looked to be a dark military uniform of some kind, and dark brown round shades. He then lifting his right arm to the light and removed the white glove, revealing his automail hand and then he took his shades off; there was a small scar over his left eye. Roxanne gasped in shock.

"Like what you see?" Megamind smirked. He knew that he was still partly blind in his left eye thanks to that fight with Lust a year ago, but he had adapted to it; what others may call a weakness he found a way to turn into a strength, thanks to his teacher.

"Oh, jeez. What happened to you?" Hal said, surprised and confused.

Minion's eyes widened. "Sir? Is that you?" he looked at his friend's older appearance.

Tilting his head back, the blue man looked at the owner of the robotic gorilla suit as if it was his first time; then he spoke. "Hey, Minion." A warm, genuine smile spread across the blue alien's lips. "Oh, it's so good to see you again."

"Sir, what do you mean?" he looked around at the others nervously for a moment; he knew that now wasn't the best time to have this talk. "I only left the Lair last night after-" he stopped.

Megamind looked up and stared at nothing and finished the sentence. "After our fight." Then he slowly looked back over at Hal for a moment; his eyes narrowed darkly and his hands changed to tight fists.

Minion's eyes were wide as he shifted on the ground. He had never seen his friend like this in all his years as the city's villain. He glanced at the fallen hero who lay next to him, and at Roxanne, who stood by on the hero's other side. Minion answered his unspoken question. "We're all right, Sir. As you can see my suit's damaged, Miss Ritchi has a few cuts and bruises but apart from that she's okay and, well, Metro Man's not dead."

"Yeah I know," the blue alien said without taking his eyes off Hal. Metro Man, who was still lying on the ground, watched Megamind; the look in those green eye sent chills down his spine.

"Okay. Enough chit-chat," Hal yelled, cutting them off. His eyes started to glow red.

Megamind's green eyes narrowed as he calmly came closer to Hal. His face never changed as he spoke. "Now, that wasn't very nice, was it? I haven't seen any of you for years and you -" He raised his right hand and waved his index finger at Hal, "- want to skip to the end already." Then he stopped sharply. "Now let me see." He closed his eyes for a moment, then snapped his fingers with his right hand. "If I remember correctly, you have his -" pointing to Metro Man "- powers, am I right Minion?" He looked over to his friend who was nodding, very confused.

Hal then looked over at Megamind. "Wait, what? How do you know I have powers?"

Megamind ignored this, sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head. "Well, now, isn't that something? The alchemical energies here in this world aren't as weak as I first thought. Oh, this is going be too easy."

"What are you blabbing about, blue boy?" Hal spoke his eyes still glowing. "Now, tell me how you know I have powers."

"I gave them to you."

"Whoa, what!" Hal said, rooted to the spot, and then he laughed. "Yeah, sure you did, spacedad -".

Cutting him off Megamind said "Oh, jeez. Not even an hour's gone by and I think I'm already missing the smarter you." Slowly opening his eyes, Megamind's green lock with glowing red. He then pocketed the shades; as he was doing that, he looked around the Lair. "Oh, it's been a long time." He smiled as he saw a group of the brainbots hovering over his friends. He nodded to them and a few flow off.

Minion's eyes widened at the sudden realization of what had happened. He spoke in a tone that a parent would use to scold a child, saying "Sir, how could you use it?" He looked away.

Megamind looked back over his shoulder and locked eyes with the fish. "You have no idea how much I regret that. I broke that promise, but if you knew -" His voice sounded pained.

"Can you two talk later? We have a crazy man with Metro Man's powers trying to kill us." Roxanne spoke up "Megs, if your going to do something, can you do it NOW!"

The blue alien smirked then nodded his head at her; he then began to remove his dark green coat and, like a million times before, a brainbot floated down and took it from him. The others all saw that his whole right arm was metal; it was automail, an artificial arm from his shoulder to hand. He smiled at the memory of the other Roxanne making it for him; he knew now how to make his own and, now that he was back in the Lair, he would be able to make a more advanced version.

Green eyes lock with red once more. Then the owner of the green eyes grinned as he remembered the special blue stone around his left wrist that he had gotten from the Gate of Truth. "Well, come on, you little firefly."

Hal yelled in anger at hearing this name. He took to the air, launching himself at Megamind. There was a series of names all being called out at the same time: "Sir!" "Megamind!" "Little buddy!"

In a flash, he jumped up and grabbed his coat from the brainbot; in that same second Hal tried to grab him but, using the coat like a bull fighter would use a cape, he covered Hal's head and at the last moment pushed the flying human aside, sending him crashing into a wall.

"Oh, is that all you've got, Hal?" Megamind sang. He could feel an old part of himself awakening and his grin widened.

"I'll get you for that!" Hal yelled out, standing up with parts of the wall falling off him, and he rose into the air to try again.

Megamind changed his stance, ready to fight, thinking, _This is the moment of truth_. He simply clapped his hands together and there was a flash of blue mixed with white.

"What's that going to do?" Hal says rising an eyebrow

"Watch and learn," Megamind said, then without warning electricity in the form of lightning bolts hit all around where Hal was moving towards him. Not resting, he clapped his hands together again and out of the ground near his feet appeared a long blue and black scythe. Before it could fall, he grabbed it, then spun it around in his hands. Hal flew at him; he dodged. Hal swung round and came at him again; he dodged and at the same time caught a fold of the costume Minion had made with the scythe tip as he went by, then flung himself away so that the flying figure was pulled off course; then he pulled the scythe out of the costume and let Hal crash into a lamppost, bending it over. The rogue super kept it up, trying to close with his blue enemy and failing every time. The others watched with wide eyes and open mouths; Megamind was fighting and using that scythe like he had all his life.

On his tenth try, Megamind hit Hal in the chest with the scythe and sent a bolt of lightning into him. The redhead fell to the ground on his knees with wisps of smoke coming off him. He stood up, shook his head for a moment, then began trying to fight the blue alien on foot. No matter how fast he was, Megamind was faster, dodging every single blow and landing a lightning strike almost every time. He struck out with laser vision. Megamind caught both beams on the blade of the scythe and reflected them back into his face, causing him to scream in pain. The redhead went back to trying to punch him, with no more effect than before.

Roxanne eye's widened. Her long-time kidnapper was moving like a professional dancer. Every time Hal came close to landing a hit, the blue man would side-step and dance away. She had known he was a great street fighter with his years of growing up in prison but the type of close combat fighting style he was using was a mix of martial arts and boxing. Every movement was perfect. When had he had time to find a teacher?

A bigger question popped into Roxanne's mind as she watched him use the weapon in his hands like a master: when had he gone and gotten the ability to use electricity like that? She looked behind her at Minion. "I didn't know he could fight like that. I knew he could fight but that was more street fighting."

Amber eyes narrowed; the fish could see that something was different with his friend. "He can't," he replies in a low tone.

Metro Man heard the two talking, then said, "Well, it looks like the little guy's had a lot of time on his hands." The weakened hero looked at the others; they noticed how weak he sounded.

Roxanne knelt next to him "Are you feeling okay?"

He tried to sit up, failed and fell back. "I'm not sure what's happening to me," he said in a low tone.

Minion shakes his whole body in his dome "Oh, Sir, how could you have used it?" The fish turned to the fight and just stared at the blue skinned man.

"You're being cryptic, Minion," the reporter said while watching the fight. After speaking, she looked at the fish.

The fallen hero spoke. "Yeah, what do you mean?"

He looked from one to the other. "Look closely at Sir." He watched them both turn to look, then continued. "He's changed. He's older, not sure by how many years." He frowned. "I'm not sure but I think his personality's changed, too." He looked at Roxanne. "I'm not sure if that works in our favour or not." Roxanne turned back to him with a confused look; he met her eyes sadly. "Whatever happened, it had to be really bad for him to use the reset button."

"He, he told me it was impossible," Roxanne stammered, looking over at Megamind, then back at Minion with wide eyes.

"I hate to say this, but that's not the Megamind we knew yesterday." He watched as she turned to look at the blue alien again.

"Reset button? What's that? What's going on here?" Metro Man repeated, confused. He tried to sit up again but he still felt too weak and unsure why it was happening.

Minion was about to reply when Hal landed in front of him. Both the fish and reporter screamed in surprise and tried to back away from Hal, who was laughing at them when, without warning, a wall of stone grew up between the super-powered human and them.

Minion and Roxanne snapped their heads to the right where Megamind crouched on the ground a few meters away with his hands palms-down on the ground.

He looked up at them, smiled, then stood up quickly and rushed to the other side of the wall.


	2. Chapter 2: Flashback part 1

**Just a quick note changing Joanhello status from beta to co-author, as they helped a lot with this chapter and future chapters.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Megamind knew his Lair was no place to have this type of fight. He had learned from experience: don't fight with alchemical powers while indoors. Things fall on you, and he had his friends to look out for now.

He took a quick glance over his shoulder at the others, then yelled, "Colonel- aargh" he then hit himself on the side of his head with his flesh arm; he had to remind himself yet again that he was home. "Sorry, force of habit. Wayne," he continued, dodging another blast from the laser eyes, closely followed by an, in his eyes, old invention.

"Err, yeah, little buddy," came a confused voice.

"Want to know why you feel like crap?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, Hal's got a copy of your powers, thanks to me, so it's making you useless here." He shot a look to his left. The super took to the air once more and flew at him again. "Enough of this," he said in a irritated tone. He clapped, crouched down and placed his hands on the ground lightly, using his alchemical powers to mold the stone, metal and other items from the ground into a globe around Hal, stopping him for the moment. He pulled electricity from the Lair's wiring into the metal and kept more earth rising under it on one side, so that it spun just enough to keep the rogue super confused.

Roxanne yelled over the sounds being made. "Why's Hal not affected?" she watched the blue light and the ground it self move to cover Hal.

She then turns and watches as Megamind stands up for a second then he turned and took his coat from the brainbot who had picked it moments after Hal had thrown it off. Megamind turned and started walking over to them; as he walked, he put the coat back on.

"It must be became he's human and not like Metro Man, something in their DNA," Minion called over from his spot on the ground.

"Your partly right, Minion. It does have something to do with DNA but it's when two Naelious or in this case men with the Naelious powers, those powers cancel each out, making them weak." Megamind spoke while looking back at the stone cocoon. When he turned to his friends, he sees the looks on their faces. "Ah, okay, looks like I have a bit of explaining to do." He smiles.

Taking another look back to check that Hal is sealed in, he turned to the others again, "We don't have a lot of time. He's going to break out of that." He knew it was time to get out of the lair. Megamind clapped his hands together, then bent down and placed them on Minion's robotic suit and in a white flash the arm and legs were repaired. Wayne and Roxanne just stared.

Minion looked at his newly repaired body, then at his friend. "Thank you, sir." He looked at his hands and moved them. "I've been wanting to ask how can you do that."

The blue man smiled at Minion as he leaned back on his heels a bit. "Oh, it's no problem, and its called alchemy." He hit him lightly on the arm.

"Alchemy?" the reporter asked, still a bit lost. He looked at her, smiled and nodded.

"Like I said, I have a bit of explaining to do." He held out his hand and helped Minion up. "I think we should leave here and regroup somewhere else."

"But where can we go, Sir?"

Megamind then turned to Metro Man still lying on the ground. He said nothing, just watched as Metro Man narrowed his eyes and weakly said, "Well, looks like you've finally won."

There was moment where the very air seemed to stop.

Then it started again as Megamind took a few steps closer. Metro Man closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen, but noting did. Then he opened his eyes and saw his rival bent down, crouching in front of him.

"My younger self would have jumped at seeing you weak like this, but I've changed, Wayne." He grabbed his rival's arm and, without a word, pulled him up to his feet. He pulled the arm over his shoulders and led him to the Invisible Car, parked in the same spot it had always been.

Minion and Roxanne watched, shocked. Then Roxanne called out, "Where are we going to go?" She waved at the stone cocoon. "He'll find us."

"Not sure." He smirked at her as he opened the back car door. "Kind of making this up as I go along."

"You're what!" Wayne said, shocked, half in the car.

"You always have a plan. You never making things up on the spot." She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

He looked at them and simply said, "Please get in and I will talk".

The reporter and henchfish looked at each other, then over to Metro Man who was in the car. Roxanne walked around the car and sat in the front passenger seat, while Minion got in behind her seat.

Taking a look around the Lair, Megamind sighed. He was home and yet he still had to fight. He placed his flesh hand on the car then he opened the door and got in.

He was looking at the controls for a moment trying to remember how it all worked. Seeing the look in his friend's face, Minion asked from the back, "Sir, would you like me to drive?"

"No, no, it's okay; I've just been driving things a lot different from this."

"Well, you better remember how it works fast, because he's breaking out," Roxanne called out, almost screaming.

He looked up and past her in time to see cracks appearing on the stone cocoon holding Hal. Narrowing his eyes Megamind looked at the others in the mirror. There was no time to tell them what he was planning as Hal broke free.

Megamind's eyes widened with excitement. He had not felt like this in years. He grinned darkly as he pressed the switch to turn the invisible mode on, then put it in reverse and drove backward fast.

While Hal tried to use his laser eyes and x-ray vision at the same time to try and find the car, Megamind spun it around in the Lair.

"Hold on, guys." He grinned and spun the wheel the other way while, with his other hand, he changed the gears. He drove at what appeared to be a wall. Roxanne and Wayne yelled for him to stop, but he just laughed at them.

The car passed through the holographic illusion of a wall and out into the street. He raised an eyebrow at them. "I've been gone four years, but I still remember the way out." He laughed.

The Invisible Car was now weaving in out of traffic, passing other cars fast. Inside, there was silence for a good ten minutes. It was Roxanne who finally broke it.

"Okay, Megamind, what did you mean by, you've been gone four years?"

"I'm just glad it wasn't longer," Megamind said, turning the car down a side street while narrowing his eyes at the road.

"Answer the question!" Roxanne demanded.

Colour flushed over his cheeks. "I think I should explain what happened."

(Flashback)

Tighten was slowly walked towards Roxanne. She was lying on the pavement under the awning that had partly broken under her weight after she had been thrown there from the hoverbike. The person that has once been Hal was striding over to her with the need for blood in his eyes. He stood over her. As he was about to use his eye lasers, a white blur punched him away from her, knocking him far away. Metro Man had come back in the end to help them. He still looked pretty much the same as when they had last seen him in his underground home, in a rough beard and a white bathrobe.

Landing on the ground, he suddenly stumbled forward and fell to his knees. Hal has been getting up, preparing to flee, but now that he saw Metro Man stumbling, he returned. Wayne's eyes become wide as he slowly looked up at Tighten who now stood over him. Megamind narrowed his eyes and rushed forwards to try and use the defuser gun, but Tighten hit him in the face before he could get the tip of the gun up his nose. The gun was knocked out of the blue man's hand so that it hit the ground beside him. He reached for it, but Tighten let an out short laugh as he used his laser vision to cut the blue villain's right arm off at the shoulder.

Falling to the ground Megamind curled in on himself, screaming in agony. Somehow within the agonizing pain, he managed to open his watery eyes and lock eyes with Metro Man. Without speaking, he silently apologized; the fallen hero nodded.

Tighten moved closer, about to kill the blue alien when Minion, full of fury, appeared and knocked Tighten away.

Megamind looked up into his friend's eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"No need, Sir." The anger in the amber eyes changed to love. "Brainbots!" As they come flying over to their daddy, an outraged Tighten, flew in, grabbed Minion and ripped the water-filled dome from the robot suit. He rose high in the air, letting the suit drop, headless and inert. Megamind looked up and screamed his friend's name.

Tighten grinned, then laughed as he looked at the dome in his hand, the fish snarling at him through the glass. He then looked down at Megamind. "I'm going to make you feel how I feel." Then to the blue man's horror, he used his laser eyes to boil the water within. Megamind's eyes widened. He and the brainbots froze, staring at the dark water and seeing Minion's small body float to the bottom, the blue alien slowly falls to his hands and knees, emotionally broken.

Wayne stood on shaky legs. Seeing Tighten moving back to the ground, he shouted for Megamind to stand up and fight but the blue alien dropped his head; all the fight had gone out of him. Seeing that his words were just hitting a wall, he turned and yelled at Roxanne to take him and run.

Shocked by what she had just witnessed, Roxanne snapped back to reality. She rushed forward to the city's villain. Grabbing his good arm, she pulled him to his feet, puts his good arm around her shoulders and the two made their way to the invisible car.

Looking back over her shoulder, she saw beams of red leave Tighten's eyes and hit Metro Man in the head. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she watched his body fall lifeless to the ground. She shoved Megamind into the driver's seat and told him to get away, but before he could reply, Tighten moved in, grabbed her and, in front of his eyes, broke her neck.

Tighten dropped her body to the ground. Seeing that Megamind was not going to do anything to stop him, he simply flew off, leaving the blue villain's mind broken.

Megamind looked at his friend, his rival and the woman he loved, all three dead. He had some of the brainbots carry Roxanne's body over to Minion's dome and Wayne's body in its white bathrobe. He followed, staggering. He wasn't sure how long he sat on the ground next to the bodies of the three people who had meant the most to him in his life. He just wanted to stay on the ground until he died because he knew Tighten wouldn't come for him. The heat of the laser beam that had cut off his arm had cauterized the flesh, so he wasn't bleeding, but he knew if he just sat there, he would eventually die of thirst.

Then it occurred to him that he did have something that might help. Minion had convinced him not to use it, saying that it was too dangerous. After building it years ago, he had shut it down and forgotten about it until that very moment. Now he felt that he had nothing left to lose. He looked at Minion's dark dome one last time. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

He then called some of the brainbots and, with their help, he stood up and walked over to the invisible car. He had one of the brainbots get with him and shift the gears, since without his right arm, he couldn't do it himself. Thus he made his way through the rubble-strewn streets back to the Lair. Once inside, he had it help him get out of the driver's seat because he was very weak.

Breathing shallowly, weeping in pain, he stumbled downstairs to the lowest level of the Lair, his costume torn, the wound where his arm had been black and oozing. He limped up to a large metal door with a keypad attached at the knob. He typed fast, keying in a code: 41.654377,-70.281429. It was the latitude and longitude of Metro City.

The door opened with a hiss. It had been years since he had been down here.

Her words flash within his mind. _"I__f__ only__ the __world__ had __a __reset__ button.__"_ He let a sad smile appear on his face. He then frowned at his reply to her that day. _"__I__'__ve__ looked __into __the__ reset __button.__ The__ science__ is __impossible.__" _

Coming closer to the machine within the room, the blue alien sighed softly. "Another lie, I'm sorry." He let his bloody hand start keying in commands on the keyboard. The whole room came to life.

He had been in the cold room for what seemed like hours, keying in commands. He had found it long going with one hand. Just before hitting the last key, a sound behind him made Megamind turn his head over his shoulder slowly.

Tighten stood in the doorway, his eyes locked with the one green eye he could see. He took a step forward into the room. "I came back to finish you off and you vanished, so I came looking." He grinned. "Found you."

Smiling darkly, Megamind spoke with gritted teeth because of the pain. "With all your speed, you're too late, Tighten." The blue alien smirked, then he laughed like he never laughed before as he hit the last key on the controls.

Tighten shouted in rage and flew at him.

There was a white flash and then nothing but a sea of darkness.


	3. Chapter 3: Flashback part 2

Chapter 3: flashback (part 2)

I woke up with a startled cry and I found myself in a strange bed. The room was brightly lit. As I turned my head, I saw a get well card. It was only then that I noticed my right arm, which Tighten had cut off, had been replaced by a robotic one. Confused, I let my mind recall the last thing that had happened, just for a moment. Then I closed my eyes again, not wanting that pain. It was then that I realized someone had been looking after me.

It took me a long time to sit up on the edge of the bed. I was on my feet, halfway to the door, when I noticed movement off to my left: my own face in a mirror. My goatee was gone. Instead, on my lips and chin was the scattered stubble I'd had as an adolescent. I looked more closely. The crow's feet were gone from the corners of my eyes and the lines from just above my eyebrows. I was younger in this reset world, much younger. I didn't feel younger. I felt half dead, but if I'd been sick, that would explain it.

I could hear faint voices, Still moving slowly, I opened the door and walked down the hallway in the direction that the voices were coming from.

I froze outside a closed door. I knew those voices. One of them was my father's; I had not heard it since the eighth day of my life. The other was yours, Roxanne, the other you of that world. I could make out a third person in the room, crying.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know something like that would happen," you said.

Father spoke next, "I think you should leave. You've done enough here."

I heard movement and rushed to the door opposite. I opened it, moved into the new room and just listened as I heard two people walk to the front door. I heard it open, then close and then heavy footsteps go back into the room. Then faint voices, comforting sounds, came from that other room, but a moment later that was all forgotten as I heard someone behind me. I turned. My eyes widened in shock and disbelieve as I saw you, Minion, back from the dead, making a meal in what looked to be the kitchen.

You looked the same, but your suit was different. Instead of the robotic suit modelled on a gorilla that I built for you, you were in one that looked more like a large suit of' armour. You turned and spotted me at the door, smiled, then spoke. "Master Sealey, it's so wonderful to see you up, Lady Ellira has been worried sick."

"Minion." If I'd been well, I'd have run up and hugged you.

"Yes. young Master."

"You're okay."

"Of course I am, sir." You stopped cooking and fully turned. "Are you feeling all right, Master Sealey?"

"Stop calling me that. You know my name." In the joy of seeing you alive, I'd forgotten that you would be the Minion of that world and wouldn't remember our life of villainy here. He was you and yet he wasn't. I backed away from the Minion-but-not-Minion until I backed into the door. "You know what it is," I said. My head felt light and the room was spinning. The other Minion rushed to me and caught me before I hit the ground.

Everything became doubled. I looked up just as the door opened and saw two of my father. He looked as unhappy as he had the last time I'd seen him, when he'd defied death by sending Minion and me into space to escape our doomed planet. Less loving, though, and his mood was darkened by a degree of worry that, in our world, he had passed beyond.

"It's true, Minion," he said. "This is Sealey's body, but it isn't Sealey. What iis/i your name, young man?"

"Megamind," I replied just before the world went black.

The next time I regained consciousness, I was able to speak with my parents and to convince them that I was, not a complete stranger as they'd thought, but another version of their son. They were moved to horror and pity by my life story, as I was by the story of Sealey Avalyn, who lost his arm at the age of eleven and then died of typhoid fever at sixteen. Yes, typhoid fever still stalked the streets, for medicine and public health, like the rest of that world's technology, were firmly stuck in the age of steam. Another type of power, called alchemy but very different from alchemy here, had overshadowed technology. Alchemy could assemble or repair machinery, shape the earth, call down fire, cause all kinds of destruction and even manipulate living tissues, creating chimeras by combining living creatures into one body. There was, however, no medical alchemy. Human transmutation, as such alchemy was called, was strictly illegal because of the uncertainty of the result. Nevertheless, my mother, immediately upon Sealey's death, had gone to an alchemist – you in that world, Roxanne – to try to bring her son back before the death became official. Instead, that other you pulled me into Sealey's body.

All I'd wanted when I'd pressed that button was to find myself in a world in which everyone I cared about was alive. I had gotten that wish more completely than I'd expected, but once I was there, all that mattered to me was to find a way back to a world like the one I'd come from, a world in which I was Megamind but I'd have a chance to save you, all three of you. My parents were rather relieved at that. They were as uncomfortable with me as I was with them. They did allow me to live with them while I got my bearings, though, and for that I was grateful.

The Minion of that world had a completely different attitude. As far as he was concerned, I was Master Sealey. I had different memories now, but the look of love I had given him when I'd first encountered him in the kitchen had convinced him that what really mattered in me was unchanged.

Over the next seven months, I convalesced and figured out what kind of reset world I was living in. First, I learned that it was not only Minion, Metro Man and I who had survived the destruction of our home planets. Several hundred of our peoples had come to that earth over 100 years ago to escape our dying world. All four of my grandparents had been among them. My parents had been born on Earth, as had I. At the end of those seven months. I was well enough to get to the local library, where I found books on the powerful force that was alchemy in that world. After reading up on what it could do, I knew it was my way back home, so I began looking for a teacher.

After a search of some months, I found a middle-aged Serngomir woman named Izumi Curtis. The Serngomir are my species' name for ourselves, and we had our own practice of alchemy, separate from the one that humans developed, which we brought with us to Earth. Izumi Curtis turned out to be a great teacher in that Serngomir-based alchemy. She also trained me in better fighting skills, both hand-to-hand and using all types of weapons. By the end of the next year I had mastered everything that Serngomir-based alchemy knew.


	4. Chapter 4: Back to the present

Chapter 4

Back to the present

Minion spoke from the back seat of the car. "Oh my god, sir." Minion looked to Metro Man, who was seated next to him, staring at the back of Megamind's head sadly. His rival had lost everything, then had risked everything to get it all back. He turned to Minion. When the fish looked at him, the two realized that things would never be the same again.

Up front, Megamind watched them in the mirror. He shrugged with no emotion. "Hey, its okay. I got you all back in the end." He finally let a smile spend a cross his face. "So Wayne." The mention of his real name made Metro Man look up to meet green eyes. The ex-villain continued. "Do you think we could hide out at your place until we come up with a plan?"

"Err, yeah, sure, Megamind."

Roxanne looked at Megamind, surprised. What had happened the night before came rushing back to her mind. and she angrily said "All this might never have happened if you hadn't given Hal those powers," she said angrily, leaning back in her seat, crossing her arms and turning away from him.

He smiled at her pouting, then chuckled lightly. "Well, if my memory is still as good as it was when I found the way out of the Lair, then I believe you gave me the idea of making a new hero, and it was your fault for not letting go of the defuser gun."

She turned to him, ready to yell, but stopped as she saw him looking at her smiling, "What?"

Still smiling, he turns back to the road. He had fallen in love with the other Roxanne from the alchemist timeline. Her alchemist name had been 'The Dark Queen'. He had told her the truth about his world and she had told him, if he ever got home, to tell this other Roxanne that he loved her. His smiled changed to a grin.

"My dear dark queen," he whispered.

Taking another couple of turns without looking at her or the others, he spoke softly. "I'm sorry, you know."

Not looking at him, Roxanne smiled and replied, "It's all right. I'm glad all your hard work paid off."

He intended to continue his story, but then he looked down at his automail hand and his eyes suddenly became unfocused.

"I wonder if this is all a dream," he murmured, and his own voice sounded distant in his ears. Without his noticing, the car drifted across the centre line. He looked up at another car coming toward them head-on.

"Megamind!" Roxanne screamed.

"SIR!"

Their yells snapped him back; he swiftly moved the car back to the right side of the road, just missing the other car. He shook his head hard. "Sorry, sorry".

It was only than Roxanne noticed the darker stain on his coat. She touched the dark green material. She felt something wet and brought her hand back into the light. On her fingers she saw a dark blue. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. Her head snapped around to look at him and she noticed that he was showing a lot more pain than a moment ago. "Are you crazy, driving in your state?"

Wayne and Minion moved forward in the back seat. "Sir!" "Little buddy!"

"It's okay, Minion. I've had worse happen to me over the years." He smiled weakly. "I hadn't fully recovered from my last fight. Damn gate could have healed me but no, it had to drop me off like I was." He rolled his eyes at the look she was giving him; he waved his automail hand at her. "I'll be fine."

"Last fight with -" she started to ask but was cut off by Megamind's sudden hiss of pain. He winced and moved his hand to his side.

"Oh, jeez, she really did hit me good." He gripped the wheel with his flesh hand so hard the knuckles stood out almost white.

Wayne raised an eyebrow. "You were beaten by a woman?" he asked with a hint of teasing to try and lighten the mood.

"Hey, that thing," he looked up at him in the mirror, his eyes dark, "was no woman; it was a demon with an angel's face".

"You can tells us about that later, sir. Right now we need to get you some medical attention." The fish looked at him for a moment, then past him and upward in dismay. The other three followed his gaze.

It was Hal flying above the city; he stopped in the air and just seemed to hover there, scrutinizing the streets below him.

Megamind sighed heavily. "The bastard's scanning for us. Roxanne, could you hold the wheel for a moment?"

She nodded, leaned over and held the wheel. She watched as he clapped his hands together and used his alchemical power to change the look of the car, from the familiar finned and spiked black Hudson to an elderly blue Dodge Dart. Then he switched the invisible mode off and took the wheel from Roxanne, who sat back in her seat but still looked at him.

"I'm not sure if I can drive all the way to your parent's house, Wayne." He turned off the main road. "We'll have to go somewhere a lot closer."

Both Wayne and Roxanne looked out at the passing buildings and recognized where they were headed. Wayne spoke. "Hey, hey, how do you know where my -"

Megamind smirked as best he could. "From the future, remember?"

"Actually, sir," Minion said with a hint of a smile, "you're from another timeline now." The blue man smiled and nodded.

~ M ~ M ~ M ~

The disguised invisible car came to a skidding stop outside the Lil' Gifted School "for lil' gifted kids". Two other cars were parked out front. One was a white Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, the other a government-issue black Ford Focus. Wayne and Roxanne looked at each other, confused.

"What's my dad's car doing here? They're both supposed to be in Europe." Roxanne's colleagues who reported on the doings of local high society often kept better track of Wayne's parents than Wayne did.

"Not sure," she said looking back at the two cars.

Minion turned to look at the licence plate of the black car, his eyes widened. "Why's the Warden's car here?"

Megamind slumped on the wheel weakly. He turned his head and saw the car and he gasped out in shock, "Jonathan's alive!" His eyes closed in pain; he slid off the wheel and fell against Roxanne's shoulder.

"Sir!" Minion rushed to get out the car and open the driver's door; he carefully lifted his friend as the other two got out.

As he stood back up, he turned to look at the city. Some parts of it were starting to smoke; in others, fires were already raging. He heard Wayne say "Hal Stewart needs to be stopped".

The reporter nodded as she stood next to him. "Later. Right now let's help Megamind".

The small group entered the old school building. They followed Wayne into the hidden passageway to the underground tunnel and down the stairs to the large door at the end; Wayne pushed opened the door. Right behind him was Roxanne.

The two were greeted by the sight of Wayne's mother Lady Dora Scott and his father Lord Harry Scott, standing on the far side of the room, and Warden Jonathan Hughes sitting on the single chair in the centre.

"Son!" the couple cried out, almost together.

"I'm back," Wayne called in a small voice, suddenly very much aware that he was wearing a filthy bathrobe.

Roxanne stepped into the room. "Lord and Lady Scott, what are you doing here? Wayne told me that you were off in Italy."

Harry smiled at her. "We heard what happened." He looked at Wayne. "You could have spoken to us, son." His wife came up and stood at his side.

"Sorry. I thought it was a good idea at the time."

"What, faking your death? If you hadn't called that night telling us what you had done, well!" His mother could make that last word into a statement of indignation all on its own.

Roxanne looked to them. "How did you get here with Hal flying around?"

The Warden spoke. "I found them trying to get into the city. They asked if there was any place we could try and wait it out, so the three us came here." At that moment the door pushed farther open and Minion came in, holding a very noticeably injured Megamind. Roxanne closed the door. The Warden stood in a rush. "Megamind," he called as he came forward. Stopping in front of the robotic suit, he looked up at Minion's face. "What happened to him?"

Harry Scott moved back. "What's he doing here?" His wife placed a hand on his shoulder and took a step forwards to her son.

"He just help us escape. He saved us, dad." The two parents looked at their son, a little taken aback by this news, then at Megamind.

Not caring about the others in the room, Minion said to the man who had been the closest thing to a father they had both had on Earth, "We had a fight and I didn't know where Sir had gone, I-"

Jonathan placed a hand on the robotic arm. "Minion, calm down. It'll be okay. How bad is he?"

Minion took that moment to look around the gold and white room. "I'm not sure, sir, we had a fight last night and then today Hal starts blasting the city apart and then Miss Ritchi show up at the Lair. Still not sure why she was there." As he spoke, he moved over to the large white sofa in the middle of the room and lowered Megamind on to it.

Nether Wayne or Roxanne had seen a personal moment like this between the three. Suddenly the underground home felt way too small, so Wayne moved his parents and Roxanne into the kitchen.

"A little under an hour ago," the fish continued, "Hal or, as he started calling himself, Tighten also showed up at the Lair, saying something about teaming up with Sir. When I told him Sir wasn't around, he got mad. Then when he saw Miss Ritchi he got really mad and tried to kill both of us." He remained next to Megamind. "Then Metro Man came flying down and saved us. That was a real shock, seeing him come back from the dead."

"Minion, let me look at him, okay?" The fish nodded in his dome, rose and stood aside to let the older man look at Megamind. Jonathan was no doctor but in the years of growing up with the two aliens he had gotten to know something about the alien who was legally his son. Jonathan gasped at seeing the metal arm emerging from one sleeve of the dark green coat; he looked to the fish in confusion.

"It's okay. Sir's told us what happen to him. I'm sure when he wakes he'll tell you."

The Warden opened the coat and slowly lifted up the black shirt and saw the deep wound on his left side. "Wayne," he called to the 'dead' hero, his voice filled with emotion at seeing Megamind this badly hurt but not about to let it show.

"Yes, Jonathan." Wayne and the Warden were on a first-name basis after years of co-operation in dealing with the city's criminals.

"Get me your first aid kit." Moments later he was being handed a small box. "And we need to use your bed."


	5. Chapter 5: Mother

A pic of what Meg's human appearance looks like can be found in my profile.

~ M ~ M ~ M ~

Chapter 5

It was near midnight. It had almost been 9 hours since the four had come to the underground home. Megamind looked very small on Wayne's king sized bed. He had not moved. Minion had worried when his friend's body had in effect shut down to heal faster, which only happened when the injury was severe. Jonathan sat next to the bed. He had just changed all his bandages with Minion's help. The wound on his left side was healing fast; by morning he would be well enough to move. The older man had his hand on the blue alien's left arm when he felt the muscle twitch. He looked into his blue face and saw the eyes open slowly.

He placed his hand on the alien's left shoulder. "Easy there, son." Without warning, Jonathan was suddenly engulfed in a hug. After a while he moved back and looked the blue man in the eyes. To his surprise, Megamind was smiling at him. He realized that it had been many years since he'd seen him look so happy. He returned that smile and spoke in a low and caring tone. "Minion told me what he could about what happened to you."

The ex-villain continued to smile. "Yeah. It was four long years." He looked into those blue eyes. "I've had to give up a lot, but what matters is that I made it back and you're all alive." Jonathan kept his questions bottled up as he watched toxic green eyes flash with a hidden fire. He released his foster father. "Need to get up."

The older man got to his feet at the side of the bed and stood there watching as Megamind shakily stood.

"You're not well. You need to rest."

Green eyes meet his. "I've had four years of rest, Jonathan. All that time I've been wanting to get Hal for what he did."

Jonathan could hear a cold edge to his voice as he spoke but chose to ignore it. He slowly backed away from the bed, giving Megamind room to move to another chair that had his shirt and coat over it. The Warden for the first time felt afraid of the blue alien, though he was overjoyed and at the same time. Megamind had this great ability to do anything he wished, yet he was going to help them save the city. "Minion didn't tell you everything of what he did," the blue man continued as he shakily put his shirt on. Then he turned to face the Warden and looked at him in the eyes. He took no notice of Minion and Roxanne coming in. The fish stood doorway while the reporter leaned against the doorframe, both listening. Megamind began stalking closer to the Warden. "I had to watch that monster kill you all."

Jonathan's eyes widened and he opened his mouth in amazement. "You mean he made you watch them die?"

The blue man shrugged then looked away. "Oh, yeah. He killed hundreds in the city and the surrounding areas but he saved Minion, Roxanne and Wayne until the end." Megamind had dropped to a emotionless tone. "But it didn't stop with that." He waved his hand around, continuing to stalk closer. "No, it didn't stop there. That damn Gate of Truth sent me to another world where you were all alive and happy, but not the same people. It was a nightmare that I just wanted to escape from." At his point he was only few feet away from Jonathan. "You want to know what the best part is?" Jonathan noted how his voice and eyes had changed drastically and it set off little alarm bells in his head. Prisoners acted like this when they had killed. What Megamind said next send chills down the Warden's spine. He didn't grin or show any emotion; he just stood still in front of Jonathan. "I killed the Hal in that other world and it felt good." He watched Megamind's face for any emotions; there was nothing. "But not as good as it will when I get this one."

A long silence filled the room.

It was broken by Roxanne walking into the room, closer to the two men. She stopped in front of Megamind and slapped him across the face. "Megamind, you've never believed in killing others. Why, why did you have to break that rule?"

The ex-villain turned alchemist looked at her. She saw a murderous look in his eyes and didn't recognize the man who stood in front of her.

"You've changed so much," she whispered, moving away from him in a slightly shocked way. She stood close to where Jonathan was. He placed a hand on her shoulder. Megamind narrowed his good eye at her.

Suddenly the tension was broken by Wayne, cleaned up and wearing jeans and a white tee shirt, rushing into the room. He stared at Roxanne with wide eyes. "But, but if you're here, then who's out there?"

"Wayne you're not making any sense," she said, turning away from Jonathan to look at the hero.

"There's a woman on TV that looks like you."

Megamind half ran, half limped out the room mumbling, "It can't be her. Please. It can't be."

Jonathan and Roxanne blinked at each other confused then she turned to Wayne.

Megamind came into the main area. He ignored the elder Scotts, who sat on the sofa, eating. His eyes were fixed on the TV. A news crew was risking everything to reveal what was happing in Metro City. The camera showed the street not far away from the museum. Sitting on one boulder of the rubble of the Metro Man statue was a woman with creamy white skin wearing a solid black dress in a Chinese style. She had short chestnut-coloured hair. The camera couldn't zoom in close enough to see her eyes, but he knew they were an inhuman bright blue. Symbols, mysterious to everyone watching except Megamind, were drawn on the pavement around her. She gestured, as Megamind had gestured during the battle in the Lair, and the stones moved for her as the floor of the Lair, the earth beneath it and the metal in it had moved for him. It looked like she was trying to piece the statue back together, like a giant puzzle. An irregular lump of stones, hovering in the air in front of her, was gradually growing larger, piece by piece.

As the others came up behind him, he tightened his metal hand to a fist. He exhaled heavily. "How did she make it back with me?"

Roxanne stared at her twin on the large TV, too shocked to speak, so Minion asked "Sir, who is that?"

Megamind didn't move, he just stared at the screen and growled out, "That's Mother."

Harry Scott stood up. "Who is this woman and what does she want?" He was not picking up the warning signs from the ex-villain.

Megamind snapped his head to look at the foolish man. He was in some ways glad that his pod had landed where it did. He spat out, "For all humans to die. Stop asking such stupid things."

Wayne came up and stood at his adopted father's side. "Don't talk to him like that."

"Or you'll what, Wayne? I know you're still weak from being close to Hal."

Dora looked at her son. "What's he talking about?"

Wayne looked at her but Megamind spoke for him. "Wayne, here, can't go fight Hal because powers like his own are his weakness."

Dora gasped. "I don't understand."

"What's there to understand? Wayne's people, when they're together, are just like humans; it's only what they are apart from their own that their powers show." He looked down at his left wrist and smiled; he turned and took a couple of steps toward the main doors.

"You can't leave," the hero said using his Metro Man voice.

"I don't think you can stop me, Wayne." He continued on his path.

A large hand gently came and rested on his left shoulder. He spun around to face Minion, his eyes wide. "Sir, please, calm down and think."

Megamind closed his eyes. He forced his mind, filled with raging thoughts about Hal and now Mother following him, to calm down and relax. Panicking over this would not help. To obtain anything, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.

When he had calmed down, he opened his eyes and looked everyone slowly. "I don't have time to explain what's going to happen. All you need to know right now is, that is not Miss Ritchi." He paused for a moment, glared coldly at the TV screen. "In fact, that thing's not human."

"Then why does she look like me?" Roxanne asked.

"She can use alchemy to transform her body, and she uses that power to take the form of someone her opponent cares about. The first time she tried it on me, she took my mother's form and tried to exercise typical maternal authority, not knowing that my mother didn't raise me and I had no lifelong habit of obedience for her to use as an emotional hook. The second time, she disguised herself as you while I was fighting her, and for a moment she had me fooled, but her eyes gave her away. No human eyes were ever that shade of blue, and no disguise will alter them."

"So she can disguise herself and she can move things with alchemy the same way you did in that last fight with Hal," Roxanne summarized. "What else can she do? Does she have any weaknesses? If you had gone out that door like you wanted to and she had come here while you were gone, is there anything we could have done to defend ourselves?"

"Miss Ritchi's right," said Minion. "You need to tell us these things, sir, before you go off and leave us."

Megamind sighed. He realized that, from the moment he had awakened after his nine-hour sleep, he had been fighting the very ones he had been trying to return to for so long.

"All right," he said. "I'll tell you what I know."

The group all sat around the ex-villain now alchemist. He looked at each of the six people and started his story.

"Mother is what's known in the other world as a homoculus, a creature created through alchemy. She also has great alchemical powers herself although, from the looks of things," he glanced at the screen, "she hasn't really got a feel for the energies of this world. That's the only reason I can think of for her to be fooling around with the pieces of the statue like that: to learn how things work here. If I were there, I could pull the statue together in a moment simply by summoning it into its previous unity, and I know that she has, in absolute terms, more power than I. She also created seven other homoculi, which she named after the Seven Deadly Sins of Christian doctrine. Just as that world has versions of each of you, it also has versions of various members of the Doom Syndicate. Each of Mother's seven children corresponds to one of them, and they have certain limited alchemical powers of their own. I killed two of them, Wrath who was that world's Hal and Pride who was its Psycho Delic. She may have brought the other five with her. You should switch channels and see if any of the other stations has spotted them. As for weaknesses, hmm. She has no perceptual abilities beyond the same five senses that humans have, can't use or perceive electromagnetic radiation in the radio, microwave or extremely low frequency ranges, and she'll be totally unfamiliar with our technology, not just mine but any human technology developed after about 1900. She can't be harmed by force - I tried massive earth-moving, explosives and fire and I've seen lightning and bullets tried, all without success - but she can be fooled. Minion, I would suggest that you summon all the stealth-equipped brainbots. No, wait. There were no brainbots active at the Lair. Hal destroyed the central controller, didn't he?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'll swing by and get it going again."

"Sir, he didn't just smash it; he slagged it. We'll have to rebuild and reprogram."

"You underestimate the power of alchemy, Minion. I'll take care of that and send all the brainbots that can come without attracting attention. Place a few of the invisible ones as lookouts, a few of the others down here and mass the rest upstairs in the shoolhouse. Keep in mind that they may merely buy you time and what you want is to get away and hide. Your most certain defence is if she doesn't know where you are. Wayne." He grinned mischievously and slowly walked over to him. "I'm pretty sure this won't hurt." The stone on his flesh arm glowed brightly and a soft hum filled the short space around them.

"What, what are you doing?"

The moment Megamind touched Wayne's shoulder, a wave of powerful blue alchemical energies moved around the two.

The hero realized he wasn't weak any more. He looked at the blue alien as he rose up into the air in surprise. "What did you do to me?"

He smiled "Since I know what your kind is, it wasn't hard for me to help fix that part so you'll be of some use now." He turned to the Warden "Jonathan, do you think you could get us into the prison?"

"Uh? Why?"

The dark grin hadn't faded; it had grown wider. He came closer to the Warden. "How many members of the Doom Syndicate are still being held?"

A confused look crossed the man's face. "All the key leaders. You know that. Why?"

"Good. Minion, you stay here with Roxanne and the Scotts." He looked at Wayne. "You're coming with us."

"Sir, what are you planning?"

"Oh that's simple. We're going to fight ice with fire." He looked to his friend and Jonathan while tilting his head grinning "I'm going to ask the Doom Syndicate for a little return favour as they still owe me.."

Everyone's eyes widened, it was Minion who spoke though "Sir none of them have ever come to help in the past, why do you think now would be any different?"

"Oh Minion, I think they will listen to me this time" then narrowed his eyes "and if they decline" he smirked darkly "well lets just say they will help" he turned to the door again then stopped "has anyone seen my coat?"

"It's in the bedroom," said Roxanne. "I'll get it." She vanished through the door.

"I can see Hal," said Wayne, gazing out and upward through the walls. "He's in the pizza place on Fifth and Adams, reheating a slice with his laser vision."

Roxanne returned, bringing the coat to Megamind, who was leaning against one of the many columns in the room with his eyes fixed on the TV. As he took it, she noticed the blue stone on his left wrist, 2 inch long by 1 inch wide. She reached out her hand to touch the shiny rock, but a metal hand held her wrist gently. She looked into his eyes.

"Don't touch that. Not sure what it could do to you."

"What is it?" she asked, looking at it.

He looked down at his hand. "This is the Philosopher's Stone, a great source of alchemical power." He looked up into her eyes. "I managed to grab it from Mother a while back in a fight. It changed on its trip through the Gate of Truth."

She looked down at the stone. "What do you mean?"

He weakly smiled. "Well, it was red in the other world; it's blue here." He put on his coat, smiling at her as he settled it on his shoulders. She hesitantly lifted her arms and hugged him. She heard him whispering in her ear. "I lost you once. I'll not let it happen again, you have my word." She nodded as he slowly let her go.

He dug into one of the pockets, brought out a silver watch and moved his hand over the controls. Moments later, a dark haired and tanned man stood in Megamind's place. He also got out the round shades and put them on.

Minion took off his disguise watch and handed it to Wayne. "You'll need this."

The tanned man turned to Jonathan and Wayne. "Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6: Train crash

Chapter 6

The effort to reheat the slice failed. When it was half charcoal and full of holes, Hal started using his X-ray vision to find a pizza place that was still making them fresh. After some searching, he saw one and flew straight to it, through the first floors of several buildings, then in the door and over the counter. He landed on the other side and leaned in close to the young woman at the cash register, enjoying the scared look on her face. Then he grabbed a stack of pizza boxes.

"Just taking some for the road." He flew out of the shop; the young woman blinked and turned to her colleagues.

He took them to City Hall, planning to eat them on the roof overlooking the plaza and the ruins of the Metro Man Museum. He liked the place because it reminded him of his victory over both the city's hero and its Evil Overlord. He got as far as sitting down on a ledge, setting his stack of boxes next to him, opening the top one and taking a bite. That was when he noticed something that surprised him so much, he forgot to chew.

A rough globe of stone hovered over the far end of the plaza. As he watched, more stones rose from the rubble to join it. It reminded him of the globe of earth, metal and stone that Megamind had used to slow him down enough so Megamind could grab his injured friends and get away. He looked around wildly, thinking that the little blue jerk must be around here somewhere. Suddenly, time itself seemed to slow. Everything went dark as if a total eclipse were happening. Then a massive amount of light rippled out of thin air at the remaining feet of the statue. The globe of stone was gone.

Hal's eyes widened as he saw seven figures down among the rubble. They reminded him of members of the Doom Syndicate, but he couldn't see them clearly because of the glare. Certainly the big one wasn't human. Suspecting that they were supervillains come to challenge him, he abandoned his stolen pizzas and flew down.

He landed heavily on the ground in front of the group. As the glare faded, the first one he saw clearly was Destruction Worker, but looking both younger and a lot fatter then Hal remembered, and with an unfamiliar hungry look in his eyes. Just behind him was Lady Doppler, but she looked to be a young girl about nineteen. She wore a white dress that stopped just above her knees and had thin shoulder straps; her long white hair flowed behind her as she walked. Next, Hal noticed Hot Flash; she looked to be in her late 30's and her pink hair wasn't fire but water. Behemoth was made completely of ice, not lava; next to the gigantic monster was The Puzzler whose colours were white and green.

At sight of the next one, he stopped in shock. It looked like his long-lost twin; same hair, eyes, facial features. Same super-looking body, too, clad in a fiery orange jacket like a marching band uniform, with black pants and boots. For the first time since acquiring his powers, Hal felt a little trickle of fear.

Then in the corner of his eye he saw a third woman walking up to him. His eyes widened. "Roxanne." This woman who looked like Roxanne was dressed in a black and purple dress with black boots and gloves. After working with the reporter for years, he knew this was not something she would wear, but maybe she had seen sense, dressed in something she thought he'd like and come looking for him. A small voice in his head was telling him to run, that this wasn't Roxanne, but he ignored it and stepped closer.

The woman looked at him with curious, cold eyes. "You look so like my Wrath, yet you have not his mind." Her voice was deep for a woman's, and as cold as her gaze. She held her hands up and nodded.

For a moment Hal looked confused; then suddenly his arms were pinned behind him. It was the one who looked like him; he had used superspeed to come up behind Hal and grab him. He tried to pull out of the other super's grip, but his captor was exactly as strong as he was. The others around them moved in close.

"Hey, you're not Roxie," he shouted, still struggling. "Who the -"

The Roxanne-like woman locked eyes with him. She used her nail to cut his cheek; a thin line of blood flowed free. iHow can she cut my skin? I thought I was invulnerable. What is she?/i

She smiled lightly. "You humans are so weak." She held his other cheek in her hand. "Do not fear. I will make you stronger." She cut her own finger with her nail, her inhuman blue eyes never leaving Hal's. Then she pressed her cut finger to Hal's cut cheek and let the blood mix.

After a moment, she stepped back and nodded for the others to do the same. As soon as she took her finger away, Hal dropped to his hands and knees, screaming in agony. After that single long scream, he became silent.

The woman smiled and looked to the others. "The Serngomir. I feel him here. Wrath, would you take Envy and Greed and please go look for him? If you can take him by surprise, bring him to me, unconscious but alive."

"Yes Mother." The homoculi versions of Hal, the Puzzler and Hot Flash flew straight up.

Hal looked up weakly as Destruction Worker asked "Can I eat him?"

The Roxanne double looked at him. "Sorry, Gluttony, but he's one of us now." She looked back down at Hal. "How's my new Pride?"

A grin spread over Hal's face. "Much better now. Thank you, Mother."

~ M ~ M ~ M ~

At the door of the schoolhouse, Jonathan hesitated, looking nervously up at the sky. "Do you think he's still looking for us?" he asked.

"Let me look," said Wayne, still inside. He gazed toward the city. "He's flying with pizza boxes. Looks like he's headed toward City Hall."

"It sounds like he could meet up with Mother at any moment," said the disguised Megamind. "Jonathan, I think you should stay here."

"And miss all the fun?" he said, smiling. "I've always wanted to be part of one of your plots."

Megamind smiled back. "Okay, but if I tell you to run, run."

"I get it."

"Good."

"Can we get in the car?" Wayne spoke in a low tone.

The three got into the Warden's car, Megamind in the front passenger seat, Wayne in the back. They started driving toward the Metro City Prison for the Criminally Gifted, taking the back roads so they didn't have to risk going into the city.

Jonathan's eyes were fixed on the road but his mind was elsewhere, going over what Megamind had told him about what he had gone through in the other timeline. He glanced at the mirror. Looking past Wayne, he could see smoke rising up from somewhere in the city.

Megamind turned his head to the window and was just watching the fast-moving landscape. He sat thinking of his plans from the original timeline that had all failed and what he'd had to do in the alchemist timeline. He frowned, realising why everyone was saying "Who are you?" and "You've changed." He briefly closed his eyes. He knew that everything he had done was to survive and in the early days he'd hated taking orders from the military, but he'd had to act the part; otherwise he would have been caught and he would never have made it home.

Wayne looked down at the seat next to him, seeing yesterday morning's newspaper. It had Hal's face on it. He found it hard to believe that this normal-looking man had been given Metro Man's powers by accident and that Megamind had spent weeks training him up to become the new hero, only to have that plan, too, fail and bring all these strange and terrible events on the city. Wayne sighed and looked at the back of Megamind's head. He had noticed how different his rival was, the childlike excitement that seemed to radiate from his skin, gone. In it's place was a grown-up solider. Yet there were moments of the old Megamind bleeding through and he knew with time he would be back.

Jonathan looked to his right and saw the look on the tanned man's face. It was still odd seeing him like this, and the disguise was very effective. "Son, can you tell us the plan?" he asked. The disguised alien looked at him as if it was a stupid question. Jonathan turned back to look at the road but kept speaking. "It's not like I can just let the Doom Syndicate walk out the front doors."

The disguised alien spoke. "Oh, I've got that covered. As for the plan," he turned in his seat to face Wayne, "could I have the watch for a moment?"

Wayne handed it to him and watched as he pressed a series of hidden buttons around the edge, then lifted it to his mouth like a phone. Moments later, he spoke. "Ah, Minion, slight change of plans. I want you to head over to the Lair and fit the airship with invisibility."

"That means taking the car apart, Sir."

"We can rebuild it later."

"Of course, boss." There was a short pause. "Sir, I don't trust them."

"Minion, it'll be okay." He switched the phone function off, keyed up the image he would need Wayne to play, then handed it back.

"You said you killed her Wrath, who was like Hal, and Pride, who was like Psycho Delic," said Jonathan. "Did he have the same powers?"

"Not sure here but in the other world, Pride was just like Psycho Delic but with one slight difference: he was a 12 year old boy. Have to say, once you got past his appearance, he was easy to defeat."

Both Jonathan and Wayne looked at him as he spoke. That chill of dread ran up both their spines.

Trying to change the mood, Wayne spoke up from the back. "So how do you plan on getting them out, dehydrate them?" He smiled.

While driving, Jonathan glanced at the the tanned man next to him and saw a grin spread. He raised his hand. "You can't do that."

"I wouldn't do that." Megamind said.

~M~M~M~

At the car park outside the Metro City Prison for the Criminally Gifted, Megamind had Wayne turn on his disguise while they were still in the car. It make him look like the Mayor, which made Megamind and the Warden laugh.

Jonathan walked ahead of the other two; the disguised Wayne as the Mayor walked on the Warden's left side, the disguised Megamind on the right. They came up to the first gate within the prison.

"Hey, Jake," Jonathan called through the bars to the large man on the other side.

The man at the desk looked up and saw the Mayor next to the Warden. He pressed a button and let them in the gate.

Jake's deep voice spoke as he looked at Wayne. "I wasn't told the Mayor was coming."

Megamind narrowed his eyes and looked at Wayne, who spoke, the watch mimicking the man's voice. "I phoned the Warden and told him it was a surprise visit." Jake looked back at Jonathan, then seemed to see the third person.

"And you are?"

"This is my, ah, assistant, um, John Green." Megamind mentally wanted to hit the man, but he didn't let any of his annoyance show as he stood and watched this train crash. He knew that his disguise wasn't dressed in anything resembling the suit and tie that an assistant to the Mayor would normally wear and he didn't have a suitable ID ready.

But Jake didn't ask to see John Green's ID, just wrote the name down in his log book. "Okay, may I ask which cells you want to go to?" he asked. Jonathan started walking even while the man spoke, and the other two followed.

"Cell Block Omega," the Warden called back. Megamind, following, couldn't see the look on Jake's face, but he heard a slight gasp of shock from behind him and he couldn't help letting a smirk appear on his face.

Some time later the three stood outside a large door with the words 'Cell Block Omega' on it in red. There was a window to their right, opening into a guard booth with a large control panel and three monitors. Nobody was in it. The Warden knocked on the glass. A man came out of the door in the booth's far side. The room behind him was lit with the bluish flickering light of a television program, and the sounds of a ball game could be faintly heard. "Sorry, Warden, Mayor." He buzzed the large door open. He never asked who the other man's name was.

As they walked through the door, Wayne looked at Jonathan. "You seriously need to get your security checked."

Shaking his head slightly and looking back annoyed at the guard in the small room, he agreed. "When this is all over, that's the first thing on my list."

As the door shut, leaving them on the top of the observation platform, the guard looked up from the computer monitors, his eyes wide. "Warden, Warden!" he shouted.

Jonathan and the disguised Wayne turned to the guard, while Megamind took a discreet step back so that they blocked the guard's view of him. There was the sudden sound of a flesh hand and a metal one clapping, followed immediately by a bright blue flash of electricity and white light that danced around the door.

"There," he said. "Those doors are sealed shut until we're ready to have them open."

The trio stood on a platform above a group of six cells built in a heptagon shape, with the wall behind them as the seventh side. These cells had neither doors nor windows; instead, their ceilings were composed of electrified bars. A few steps led down from the platform to a catwalk that would allow visitors to approach these ceilings, look down through them and converse with the occupants. On the right were the two cells that held Lady Doppler and Hot Flash, on the left were the cells holding Destruction Worker and The Puzzler, and the two large cells straight ahead held Psycho Delic and Behemoth. All six prisoners had heard the shouts and seen the light but wasn't sure what was happening. Five of them stood watching.

Wayne had always hated come to check on these villains as they had no code for safety for bystanders like Megamind had. He stood back with Jonathan and looked every part the Mayor.

The disguised Megamind walked out along the catwalk until he stood over Psycho Delic's cell. The purple-skinned skeletally-thin villain was the only one who hadn't jumped up to see what was going on. He simply lay on his back on the bed with his eyes closed; he appeared to be asleep.

"Ollo, Duke" the disguised Megamind smirked.

The mutant's red eyes open at hearing his real name. There were only two people who knew it, he sat up and looked at the tanned skilled man. He noticed off to this man's right the Warden and the Mayor. Then he looked back that tanned figure in front of him "Well, well. I'm surprised to see you out." Then he narrowed his eyes. "What happened this time, blue?"

"I've been wandering in other worlds and something followed me home, something that threatens to cut the legs out from under all the powers in this town, good and evil alike. That's why the Establishment," he gestured in the direction of the Warden and 'the Mayor', "is working with me for a change. I've talked them into letting me bring you in, all of you. Minion is readying an invisible airship that will allow us to get a good look at the opposition without them seeing us, so we can plan our attack."

"What about that new boy, Titan?"

"He's gone over to their side, I'm afraid."

Psycho Delic was silent for a moment. Then he just starting laughing. "Oh. come on, Megs. You and us working together and stop someone like Metro-fool?" His laughter died to giggles. "I heard you killed Metro Man; congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you"

Psycho Delic watched as Megamind grinned darkly. The purple mutant had a hidden gift for feeling others' darker emotions and what he was feeling from the blue alien was nothing he had felt before. Megamind reached for his pocket watch and switched it off, revealing his new appearance.

("Uh oh. What's he doing," muttered Wayne in the background. He tried to step forwards but Jonathan grabbed him. Wayne turned back to look at the older man and saw the Warden grinning, something that Wayne rarely saw.

"He knows what he's doing." The older man's eye locked with his. "So let him do want he wants.")

The blue alien walked slowly along the catwalk so all the members of the Doom Syndicate could get a good look at him. Then he returned to Psycho Delic's cell and stopped with his hands on his hips, looking down at the purple man.

"Well, Duke, I've tried asking you nicely. Do I need to ask again?" The Doom Syndicate's leader saw the green eyes narrow dangerously.

Psycho Delic's own grin matched the blue one. "Hell, no," he replied. "I'd love to watch somebody kick your ass."

Megamind looked back over his right shoulder at the Warden and the Mayor. "I did ask nicely."

Then with no warning the blue alien snapped his head back to face the leader of the Doom Syndicate, whose grin faded as he felt the darkness coming from him. The temperature in the large room dropped. Raw power vibrated in the air, flavoured with unstoppable will. It was the sort of effect Psycho Delic was more used to creating; he'd never before been on the receiving end.

"I see you're still playing kiddie games like normal, Megs," he said, pretending to be unimpressed.

The purple man watched as those green eyes closed; then his hands clapped. For a long moment nothing happened. Then ever so slowly Megamind silently opened his eyes. Green stared at red. Psycho Delic gulped.

Suddenly there was a rumbling that every criminal in the cell block knew all too well: the sound of a flying, superpowered man crashing through multiple layers of walls, headed their way.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7: Fiftythird floor

**Author's Note:** we've had to slightly rewirte the endding hehe, BIIIIG thank you to my Co-Author here and I think the next few chapters, your amazing Joan.

Wayne heard the sound, too, and looked through the walls to see Titan, or a man who looked exactly like Titan but was dressed in something more formal, bursting through the outer wall of the prison at the fifth floor, passing through a cell, knocking a convict aside and continuing right through the floor, almost straight at him. For a moment he felt fear, remembering how Titan's presence had left him so weak he couldn't stand up. Then his attention was distracted by the movement of the door behind him, the walls adjoining it and the floor he and the Warden stood on. As stone and metal had moved at Megamind's will during the battle at the Lair, so they moved here, the stairs down to the catwalk curling up to block his view, the material of the door and the walls curving around to meet them. By the time the redhead burst through the final wall into Cell Block Omega, he and Jonathan were sealed off from it. Behind them, the door was gone. The way was open into the corridor, with guards in it.

"Warden! Mayor! Are you all right?" Their shouting almost drowned out what Megamind shouted on the far side of the wall.

"I killed you!" Then there were sounds of battle, a battle Wayne couldn't join in; he'd be worse than useless. Megamind would have to save him again, and it sounded like Little Buddy had his hands full already. The ex-hero hated not being able to act. Much as he wanted to stay and observe the battle, he knew that there might be other attacks going on. Jonathan had his phone out.

"This is the Warden. Lock down all units. Repeat. Lock down all units." Through the window in the corridor, Wayne could see the guard staring into the cell block. He had a cell phone in his pocket - the real pocket of his jeans - but the trouser pockets of his disguise were empty.

"Jonathan," he said, "I seem to have forgotten my phone. Can I use the one in your office?"

###

The battle was over all too quickly. Megamind was so dismayed to see, not Titan, but Wrath, whom he was sure he'd killed, coming through the wall at him that, once he'd created the barrier to protect Jonathan and Wayne, he didn't have time to draw his scythe from the surface of the catwalk. He dodged the grasping fingers, did a backward somersault while he drew the de-gun and came up firing. It had no more effect on this Hal than it had on the other one. Wrath's momentum forced him to pass the blue alien, turn around and try again. Megamind used alchemy to fling up the substance of the catwalk into a barrier with a long shelf near the top, raised off the floor but hidden from his attacker. He flung himself onto the shelf just in time; Wrath burst through the barrier right where he'd been standing and grabbed a handful of empty air, while Megamind rolled over his orange-jacketed back and landed back on the struts that had supported the former catwalk. He was about to change the de-gun's setting to Destroy when he was hit from behind and knocked into the ceiling of Psycho Delic's cell. The energy field of the ceiling rendered him instantly unconscious.

###

"Hullo."

"Dad, it's Wayne. Have you had any trouble?"

"No one's bothered us yet, thank goodness, but we've seen some very disturbing things on television. That Hal, who has your powers? We saw him kneeling in front of the woman who looked like Miss Ritchi. And then they attacked the news crew. What kind of villain attacks the news crew?" Harry sounded indignant.

"The kind who think they can rule the city by force instead of fear, or who don't want to rule, just to destroy." He paused, thinking. During the walk to the Warden's office, he had looked through the prison walls to see the battle end with Megamind being carried away unconscious by the one he figured must be Wrath, accompanied by the alchemy-world Hot Flash and Puzzler. He had followed with his eyes as they flew to Metro Tower and joined Mother and the other homoculi and Titan (who was acting like one of them, fawning on Mother) inside Metro Tower. The building had been evacuated, but there were two human prisoners. With not one but two supervillains whose mere presence would negate his powers, he couldn't just burst in and rescue them, at least not unless their attention was distracted. He didn't know what Megamind's plan had been, beyond convincing the Doom Syndicate to team up with them and fight these new villains, and before he formulated a plan of his own, he needed more information. "Listen, Dad. Can you put Roxie on?"

"Sure." After a moment, Roxanne came on the line.

"Hi, Wayne. Did Megamind get the co-operation of the Doom Syndicate?"

"Megamind was captured. The homoculus called Wrath, the one who looks like Hal, has Hal's powers, too. He came right through the wall of the prison with two more of the, I suppose we can call them the Deadly Sins, the other-world versions of Hot Flash and Puzzler. He fought the three of them single-handed, lost and was carried away unconscious. I've been watching them fly away from the prison. It looks like they've taken him to Metro Tower. There are two humans being held there already."

"One of them's Daniella Cruz from Channel Five, right? And the other's a small, skinny woman who you could mistake for a teenage boy?"

"That's them."

"They were the news crew that filmed Mother in City Hall Plaza."

"Listen, Roxie, did they film Hal being..." he groped for the right word. "...subordinated to Mother?"

"They sure did. It looked like he was being mind-controlled. It was disturbing."

"Good. That's just what I want. One more thing. You've seen Megamind use his watch enough times. Do you remember exactly what he did to turn his disguise on and off, and to use it to call Minion?"

"To call Minion, he just spoke into it. To turn the disguise off, he turned the outer wheel clockwise. I never saw him turn it on. Wayne, what are you planning?"

"It's not exactly a plan, just the knowledge that every super in the city that's not under Mother's control, no matter what their normal alignment, needs to come together to fight her. I'm going to use the watch to call Minion and get him here to the prison. Then I'm going to go out into Cell Block Omega with him and try to persuade the Doom Syndicate that teaming up with us to fight these creatures is in their self-interest. I want to use the film footage of Hal and Mother to convince them that this town won't be safe for them as long as she's in it."

"I'll call Channel Five."

"How long will it take?"

"Once somebody there gives me a password, I can go on their website and download it in five minutes."

"I should be there by then."

"Okay, see you in five."

He hung up, then looked at the watch. Just speak into it, huh? He held it up to his mouth as he'd seen Megamind do. "Minion, it's Wayne."

The first response he heard was a startled squawk. Then the fish's voice came through. "What happened to the boss?" Of course he would know that the only reason Wayne would be calling him via the watch is if Megamind couldn't.

"He's been captured by the homoculi."

"Shitshitshitshitshit. What about the Doom Syndicate?"

"Still locked up. He was in the middle of explaining things to them, trying to get their agreement, when three of the homoculi, led by Wrath who is the homoculus Hal, burst in through the wall and overpowered him."

"Shitshitshitshitshit." The fish wasn't very imaginative when it came to swearing. "Do you know where they took him?"

"Metro Tower, fifty-third floor. I can see him. He's still out cold. Part of the homoculus Puzzler is guarding him." One of The Puzzler's powers was that he could break off parts of himself and set them to do simple tasks, such as playing lookout. Apparently his homoculus equivalent shared this power.

"Does he have any cuts or scratches?"

"No. Why is that important?"

"You must not have seen the news. When Mother took over Hal's mind, she started by cutting his face and pressing her finger against the wound. If he's not cut, maybe she hasn't done it to him yet. Wayne, will you help me get him out of there? You owe him, you know."

"I know, and here's my idea: the Doom Syndicate stood in their cells and watched while three flying homoculi overpowered Megamind. They know enough to be worried. I want to go in there with the news footage of her taking over Hal's mind and get them to think about the possibility that she intends to do the same thing to them, and that the best defense is a good offense. I think I can convince them that they, and we, stand a better chance against her and her children if we work together. And I want you in on it. If they see us working together, they'll have more confidence in us."

Minion was silent for a moment. "Okay," he finally said. "That footage scared me shitless. Maybe it'll scare them enough. But I want to try a rescue first. I'm almost done putting the stealth unit into the airship. When it's done, I can float right up to the Tower, send a couple of brainbots out to grab him, and be out of there before Mother knows he's gone."

Wayne found himself shaking his head even though the fish couldn't see him. "Minion, we don't know anything about how this alchemy power works, including what kind of surveillance can be done with it. We might think we were rescuing Megamind and just end up leading them back to the Lair. I'd rather do it when we have a whole lot of allies to provide distraction, and when Megamind is awake to fight on his own behalf, since he knows them and their powers better than anyone else in this world. But wait a minute. I thought Hal put all the brainbots out of commission."

"Almost all," said Minion. "A few of the oldest ones predate the central controller and can operate without it. I activated all of those that I could get to. If I understood what the boss said about the alchemist world being stuck in the age of steam, technologically, then none of those homoculi will have ever seen anything like a brainbot, so they're the closest thing to an ace in the hole we've got."

"Well, it's good to hear that we've got some kind of an edge against those things. Get here as soon as you can."

"Right." Minion disconnected the call and went back to fitting the invisibility unit into the airship.

All of Megamind's cyborgs, even those that didn't depend on the central controller, listened in on the watch communication frequency because that was how commands were transmitted to them. Some of them understood quite a bit of English. Now those who did transmitted the gist of Minion's conversation with Metro Man, in beeps and clicks, to the others. Those oldest brainbots had been in storage, in dormant mode, because they tended to have a little too much initiative. Now they waited until the piscene had his dome and the arms and upper torso of his gorilla suit buried in the machinery of the airship. The two that were assisting him stayed nearby. All the others floated out through the hologram wall, some carrying small potentially useful things from the Arsenal of Evil. They were followed by the multi-eyed and multi-legged bulk of Spider-Bot. Once outside the building, they turned toward downtown, headed for Metro Tower.

###

The first thing Megamind knew when he woke up was that his head hurt. Then memories began to come back to him, jumbled, confusing. For a moment, he wasn't sure whether he was the Lightning Alchemist and had dreamed the world where he was Megamind, or the other way around. Then things sorted themselves out. Realizing that he must be Mother's prisoner, he came awake in a panic, his heart racing.

He was lying on thin, tough commercial carpet. A cold wind blew over him. He sat up. This place had been an office. Uprooted cubicle dividers, desks, chairs and computer parts were piled up in heaps to either side of him. Straight ahead, the carpet ended in a curved rim, thickly sprinkled with broken glass. Beyond it were the roofs of lesser buildings stretching away into the distance. A tiny green-and-white creature ran toward that rim, no bigger than a mouse, but running on two legs. Almost without thinking about it, he clapped his hands and the carpet rose up ahead of the little thing and flung it back toward him. He caught it in the air. It was a miniature of Greed, the homoculus Puzzler. He'd seen this world's Puzzler, the black-and-red one, pull off one of his fingers and set it down, where it instantly reshaped itself into a miniature of him, just like this one. It would be set to some task and would rejoin the body from which it had been separated when its task was done or when the Puzzler summoned it. This one had probably been set to watch him and notify someone when he woke up.

How could he prevent it from reporting in? How could he buy a little time? If he flung it out of the building, its terminal velocity would be so low that it would land unharmed and go about its business. If he crushed it, it would just reassemble itself. Even now, it was going to pieces in his hands, trying to escape. He manifested a smooth-sided beaker out of the stuff of the carpet and the floor in front of him, dropped the Greed-fragment into that, and quickly formed a layer of titanium mesh over the top, so it was effectively imprisoned but it wouldn't smother. Its parent body would have felt it smothering or burning or any other real harm, but it could struggle against that container for hours before it began to suffer enough, physically, to attract attention.

That problem solved, he rose on shaky legs and began looking around. His holster was empty. He found the men's room and relieved himself but didn't flush. Water moving in pipes makes noise. After a little more searching, he found a kitchen, one of those office kitchens with a fridge, a microwave oven, a large coffee machine and a sink but little cupboard space and no drainboard because the dishes and utensils were all disposable. The power was out, so there was no telling what he'd find if he opened the fridge, but he found a partial case of bottled water and slaked his thirst. In a little alcove he found a vending machine offering a variety of packaged snacks. He'd been stealing from machines like this since his first boyhood forays outside the prison. With a couple of Grandma's brand chocolate chip cookies in his stomach, he began to feel more functional. After making sure he knew where the stairwells were, he began harvesting cubicle dividers. They were just heavy fabric stretched over rectangular frames. With a little alchemical reshaping, he could make them into adequate wings, rudder, controls and harness for a basic hang glider. He figured he could just soar out of here, land in the lake and get into the Lair through the underwater entrance before his captors even knew he was gone.

He was about three-quarters done when a shadow fell across his work. That was all the warning he had before Titan was on him. It was too late to squirm away and he already knew that his alchemical power would have no more effect on the superpowered body than any other sort of attack, but Titan's costume was a different story. Megamind had developed the fiber it was made of. He knew it on the molecular level. Slapping his hands against Titan's chest, he caused the fabric to rise up into the super's face, covering his eyes, clogging his mouth and nose so he couldn't get air. As he'd hoped, the redhead let go of him, howling, to claw at it. Suddenly he felt another alchemical energy overwhelming his. He pushed off from Titan's chest, intending to sprint for the stairs, but the super grabbed him from behind.

"Got you!" Titan gloated. Pride. She'd made him into her new Pride rather than wait to find the Psycho Delic of this world. That was worth knowing.

"Turn him to face me," said Mother's voice. The super held him by his biceps, his shoulders straining and his feet dangling off the carpet, and swung him around until he faced the woman-shaped creature whose body resembled Roxanne's in everything except those royal blue eyes. He kicked out at her. She barely got out of the way, and for a moment she looked a little scared before her calculated expression of calm and confidence came back. "Pin his legs," she instructed, and Hal hooked a leg around each of Megamind's knees, trapping them between muscular thighs and calves. She reached for the blue face. He yanked his head away from her hand with a snarl. "Hold his head still." There was a pause. This was the not-so-bright Hal. He was having trouble figuring out how to do that while continuing to hold Megamind's arms. Mother got a look of exasperation on her face. The blue alien had seen exasperation on Roxanne's face, but there was always a layer of warmth and kindness underneath it. Mother's expression was cold and resentful. "Slip your arms under his arms, put your wrists up behind his neck and hold his head still with your hands," she explained.

"Oh. Uh, okay. Yes, Mother." Hal did as instructed. When he was done, Megamind was almost able to touch Mother. If he could touch her clothing, he could use his alchemy to make it attack her. He struggled, trying to get even one finger across that last inch, but she was aware of his intentions and held the clothed parts of herself just out of reach. She cupped his blue cheek with her bare hand.

"Do you think you can take me as easily as you took this lump of beef?" he said warningly.

"It's true that I've never taken a Serngomir before," she replied. "But none of my bindings has ever failed, so I'm not worried." Her nail was so sharp that he hardly felt it open his skin. She drew her hand back and cut a slit inside her little finger. A hot red drop rolled down his cheek and dangled from his jaw for a moment before it fell onto the front of his costume. She flexed her hand for a moment, setting a similar drop running down to the tip of her finger, then pressed her wound to his.

At first he felt nothing except the minor, irritating pain of having an injury touched. Then a horrible tingling began, not at that spot but all over his body at once. He decided to try a little deception, pretending to be in more pain than he was. He shut his eyes, lowered his head, clenched his teeth while drawing back his lips in a grimace and drew in a hissing breath. She took her hand away. Then the pain really got started, setting cold fire to his nerves and bones. He heard a voice in his head.

_Are you mine? If you acknowledge that you are mine, I'll stop the pain._

_Go rot in Hell, you artificial counterfeit of a human,_ he responded. The pain was suddenly much worse.

_Now are you mine?_

_Y...y...yes, he lied,_ figuring that he'd betray her as soon as she let her guard down. It didn't work.

_I can tell when you lie, Serngomir._

He tried another tactic. He summoned the discipline that Izumi Curtis had taught him during his exile, for a purpose that his old teacher had probably never imagined. In his mind he shaped a conduit between him and Mother and began pouring his pain into her. Immediately he sensed her shock, fear and rage. She attempted to order Titan to kill him, but he took possession of her throat muscles and prevented the order from being spoken. For a long moment she was too amazed to react.

"Mother?" said Titan nervously. Suddenly there was a deafening bang, a glare that penetrated through his closed eyelids and a smell of the particular chemical smoke mixture that he, himself, had used in many attacks on the city. "I'll protect you, Mother!" As his captor flung him away, he opened his eyes, not that it did any good. The smoke was too thick and dark for him to see anything. Before he landed, he felt the familiar sensation of being snatched up in midair by brainbots. He was being rescued! In his pleasure and relief, he forgot to hold on with his will to Mother's throat. She screamed at the top of her lungs and suddenly cut the connection between their minds. A second later, he was out of the dark cloud, being carried over the city. Behind him, he could see Metro Tower, the glass gone from its upper floors, with smoke bulging out of one particular floor. There was another bang and flash, and the smoke thickened. A damaged brainbot fell out as if thrown. Then he felt a wind where there had been no wind. The homoculus Lady Doppler was at work. When it blew away the smoke, he saw a battle going, brainbots and Hals swarming, and then he was out of sight as the two carrying him dodged behind a building, taking an evasive pattern that would make their destination less than obvious. But they could only be going to Evil Lair; it was the only building holographically shielded against X-ray vision.


	8. Chapter 8: The Plan

Chapter 8

The guards had moved all the prisoners from the cells Wrath had damaged and put up barriers to keep those cells separate from their neighbours. In addition, at Wayne's request, the Warden had the damaged sections of hallway barricaded so that even the staff didn't have immediate access to them. It meant that, with only a little rearrangement, Wayne had a tunnel from Cell Block Omega to an outside wall at the level of the fifth floor. It was the perfect place to wait for the invisible airship.

He'd used his superspeed to fly home, taking a selection of weapons borrowed from the prison. He'd changed into his hero costume and handed out the weapons: the .38 caliber police special pistol to his dad, a couple of TASERs to his mom, and a box of tanglefoot grenades to Roxie. Then he'd had to argue with Roxie. She wanted him to take her back to the prison with him, so she could be in on the action. He told her that he'd have enough to do just keeping the prison staff and the human inmates safe, that while the Doom Syndicate knew the rules and could be counted on to respect her as a known member of the press, the homoculi had no such compunctions, and he refused to put her at risk. Now he was back at the prison, standing just inside the hole in the outer wall, waiting for Minion and watching what was going on in Metro Tower. Titan had introduced the homoculi to pizza and they were all eating. Megamind was doing something alchemical with cubicle dividers. It looked like he was shaping one into a hang glider wing. Metro Man (he had to admit that he was Metro Man again, whether he liked it or not) grinned. It looked like he might not have to rescue his little buddy after all.

A door opened in the empty air, revealing the pilot's compartment of the airship, with Minion at the controls.

"Hi, Wayne. Is everything ready?"

"Ready as I can make it."

"Great." Minion flew out wearing a jet pack, followed by two brainbots. "Do you know how the boss is doing?"

"He's preparing an escape," Wayne replied as they all flew down to the floor just outside Cell Block Omega, where a small cordless projector waited, its lens aimed straight up. Wayne had borrowed it from City Hall and had spent most of his wait for Minion setting it up so it would be ready with the touch of a button. Minion had the brainbots pick it up and they all floated out into the cell block, to the consternation of its prisoners.

"What the hell?" "Metro Man?" "We heard you were dead, man."

"That was how I planned it," the white-clad super replied. "But it backfired on me. On the whole city. You saw." He gestured at the disrupted form of the catwalk, the stairs, the bulge where the door used to be. "Now Megamind, because I wasn't around to keep him in check, has brought on a danger so great that it will take all our combined efforts to stop it."

"Oh, yeah, right," called out Psycho Delic. "Why the fuck should we save his ass, or yours, or the city's? Blue told us that Hal already joined up with them. Maybe that'd be the smart move for us." Under Minion's direction, the brainbots were setting up the projector.

"Megamind didn't get a chance to tell you about the circumstances of Hal's, ahem, joining up with the homoculi," Wayne answered. "That's what they're called, homoculi, constructed people. Their leader is a shapeshifting entity called Mother because she created all the others. You know that Hal used to be Roxanne Ritchi's cameraman, right? Mother shapeshifted to make herself look like Roxie, and it fooled him long enough that he let his guard down and, well, here's what happened." He nodded. Minion extended his wrist to push a button on the projector. A video image was suddenly visible on the ceiling. "This footage was taken only a few hours ago. The news crew who took it are now prisoners of the homoculi if they're still alive." At first, they only saw Mother rotating the globe of stone. "Did I mention that she can reshape large volumes of matter the same way you saw Megamind do it right here?" There was the darkness, then the light, and then the gathered homoculi.

"Holy shit." "That's me!" "Are they all shapeshifters?" Wayne didn't answer, just let the video play.

When it showed Mother cutting Hal's face, he said "Pause it." Minion did so. "Hal has my powers, all of them, including invulnerability to any injury this world could throw at a person. But Mother isn't from this world and it looks like that rule doesn't apply to her. Let it run, Minion." The video played. When Hal was kneeling in front of Mother, smiling with subservient affection, he spoke again. "That's how she recruited him, by taking over his mind. There's no reason she wouldn't want to do the same to each of us, and to every person in the city with powers that may be useful to her. We can let her hunt us down one by one, or each of you can flee the city and hope to establish yourselves somewhere else, or we can work together."

##

When Megamind was carried into Evil Lair, it was perfectly quiet. The hood of the Invisible Car was open and tools were scattered on the floor around it. He looked up. The area of ceiling where the airship normally hung was empty. Minion must already be at the prison. The central controller was still a silent heap of slag, and the usual beeping and bowging of brainbots doing chores was absent. He'd given Wayne his wrist watch; the pocket watch only generated the disguise, so he couldn't call Minion. The other things, though, he could do something about. With a summoning of alchemical energies, he slapped a section of the controller's casing that was still sort of intact, and summoned the machine into its previous form. In seconds, it was fully functional and lit up. In response to its signal, he could hear the sounds of hundreds of brainbots coming out of dormancy. The blue man sat down at the keyboard. It had been four years since he'd touched a computer, but he was sure his old software skills would come back to him.

##

Hot Flash was the first to speak. "Okay, nobody copies my look and gets away with it. I'm in."

The Puzzler stared at the screen for a long time before saying "I'm also in."

"Same here," said Destruction Worker. "Not like we got a lot of choices."

Behemoth didn't speak, but in the light that constantly glowed from him, there was a ripple, from the top of his head down to his muzzle. Minion responded with a similar ripple of the glow of his two rows of appendages, from his tail forward to his eyes. "He's in," said the fish.

"What about Blue?" asked Psycho Delic.

"Well, the last time I saw him, he was getting ready to escape," said Metro Man, turning toward the city. "Now, it doesn't look like he's in Metro Tower at all. It looks like there was a battle in the area where he was being held, though. Smoke damage, brainbot fragments. I'd say he's escaped while we were talking here. He'll probably meet us back at his Lair."

"Okay," said the purple man. "If he's there when we get there, and he's with us, then I'm in."

"Me, too," said Lady Doppler. Wayne turned toward the guard station, where Jonathan had been watching all this through the window, and nodded. A switch was thrown and the energy fields at the tops of the cells winked out. Behemoth's entire cell settled a little. It had been held off the ground by a clever arrangement of magnetic fields. Hot Flash and the Puzzler flew out of their cells and into Psycho Delic's cell, bringing up their leader. Wayne flew down and lifted Destruction Worker up, while Minion stood at the top of Lady Doppler's cell and extended his mechanical hands to her. "Is your lair still in the same place?" she asked as he pulled her up.

"Oh, right, we moved it," replied Minion. He recited the address. Behemoth gave a low roar and melded with the ground, vanishing completely in a few seconds.

"How do the rest of us get there?" asked Destruction Worker. "Walk?"

"Our ride is right this way," said Wayne, lifting him through the hole in the wall. The others followed.

The cockpit of the airship was tiny. Wayne and Hot Flash rose up to the ceiling and the Puzzler took himself apart and stowed himself in any little nooks and crannies he could find, to clear floor space for the rest. The former hero looked through the walls to see the Hals, Greed and Envy flying a search pattern over the city, which he described to his fellow passengers. As they approached the Lair, he glanced over the streets around it, checking for possible ambushes. He didn't see any, but he did see a car that looked disturbingly like his parents' Mercedes. Couldn't be,/i he thought, and then they were inside. In the process of disembarking, he forgot about the car.

###

Megamind felt the shift in the air currents when the airship came in through the hologram wall, but he didn't look up from the computer. He figured it would be invisible, anyhow, so what would be the point of looking? Then he heard voices behind him.

"Sir, you've fixed it!" Then there was heat from the hologram wall as Behemoth stuck his head through.

"So this is your new crib, huh, Blue?" He recognized Psycho Delic's voice.

"Glad you decided to join me, Duke, everyone," the villain-turned-alchemist replied as he typed. "Forgive me for not getting up, but my plan requires new software and I'm in the middle of a tricky bit of coding here.

"Uh, Miss Hot Flash, could you stay back from the explosives?"

"Still a worry wort, huh, Minion?" replied the villainess. "If you've got them stacked up in plain sight like this, you must not have company too often. Are we the first guests you've had here?"

"The first voluntary guests," the fish replied. He remembered the apparent human who had popped out of the washing machine the week after Megamind had blown up the Metro Man Museum. Minion had used the Forget-Me Stick, but instead of passing out, the stranger had transformed into a mostly-purple humanoid with a disturbing fanged face who had wrestled him for the stick and might have won if the brainbots hadn't intervened with ray guns. Recognizing that the creature had not been trying to hurt him and being curious about this completely unfamiliar species, he had called a truce and ended up having a long talk with this creature, who turned out to be Bernard Trevisan, the museum's curator, a fellow alien exile who had been living as a human citizen for many years. They had become friends and met often when Minion went out to do errands, but he had never told the boss about it and this didn't seem like the time. Let the Doom Syndicate think the previous guests had all been human captives. "Brainbots! Bring six Monsters." There were no alcoholic drinks in the Lair, but he figured the boss would want everybody clear-headed. Anyway, Monster Absolute Zero, the boss' energy drink of choice, was the only thing they had enough of to serve to guests. "One for you, too, Sir?"

"Yes, Minion, that would be good." Megamind continued to type. "Since you are all here, I can explain the plan. I escaped into the alchemy world in order to find a way to defeat Titan. While I was there, I came to the attention of Mother and her children. I could not defeat them there, but I didn't think it was all that important because I planned to be returning soon. When I returned through the Gate of Truth between the worlds, they followed me. Their power here is enormous and, except for us and a few Metrocity humans such as the Warden, unknown to the inhabitants of this world. I believe that our best shot at getting rid of them is to re-open the gate and send them back where they came from. This requires an elaborate alchemical set-up surrounding the whole city. The brainbots can do most of it and I can set it off, but if Mother and her children know it is happening, they'll do everything they can to disrupt it, and everything they can do is quite a lot. Therefore what we need is a distraction that will keep them all busy and keep them in one place. Then at a pre-arranged signal, everyone must get away from them so they won't be dragged through the gate when I open it." The drinks arrived, handed out by little metal graspers. He began to save his work out of a sense that, when he actually asked for their help, he should turn around and look them in the eyes. "So, if I provide invisible vehicles allowing you to disappear when the time comes," he swiveled his chair around dramatically, "will you provide the distraction?"

For a long moment, everyone in the Lair looked at him, horrified.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"That cut on your face, sir," said Minion.

"Just like Hal had," added Lady Doppler.

"She got you, didn't she?" demanded Psycho Delic.

"She tried," the blue man responded with a smirk. "It turns out that the mingling of blood only opens a conduit between the victim's mind and hers. Then she dominates through sheer strength of will. But my will is stronger than hers. For a brief few moments, it was I who controlled her mind and body, before she severed the connection in a panic. IF she ever opens it again, I'll be taking advantage immediately, as I'm sure she knows, so I'm not expecting it."

"I don't buy it," replied the purple man. "I think she sent you here to round us up and deliver us to her, all nice and neat. Well, we're not walking right into your delivery package. We'll figure out how to deal with her on our own." His eyes met those of each member of his gang in turn. He got no argument from any of them. Last, he turned to Metro Man, who hovered above the computer. "What about you, Metz? You with us or with him?"

Metro Man looked back and forth between Megamind and Psycho Delic for a long serious moment.

"I'm with you," he finally said. The purple man nodded, turned to the hologram wall and walked away, setting his drink on a crate as he passed. They all left their drinks behind. In a moment, Megamind and Minion were alone.

"Do you believe me, Minion?" asked the villain-turned-alchemist.

"I believe you, Sir. I know how strong your mind is. But what are we going to do without them?"

"I need seven invisible brainbots," he ordered, "to follow the seven individuals who just left and keep me informed as to their location and their plans. " Seven of the small flying cyborgs passed him, disappearing as they approached the hologram wall. "So long as we know what they're doing, it doesn't matter whether they're deliberately working with us. Whenever they act, that's when when we will. They will provide the distraction we need."


End file.
